Hal v. Stice, continued: the mouth that still chews on an empty court
The Darkness still made huge mandibular chewing faces on-court even though he hadn’t been allowed to chew gum in play since he accidentally inhaled gum and had to be Heimliched by his opponent in the semis of last spring’s Easter Bowl.
Context
A small body-fact that says how deep the habits run: Stice makes "huge mandibular chewing faces on-court" with nothing in his mouth, the jaw grinding on reflex ever since he "accidentally inhaled gum and had to be Heimliched by his opponent" mid-match. The body keeps performing a gesture the rules stripped of its object — the chewing outlived the gum, the way so much of the drilled body is motion with the reason worn off.